


Under Your Scars

by ukenceto



Series: Love beyond the bones [8]
Category: Gears of War (Video Games)
Genre: M/M, Retrospective, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:34:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26828185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ukenceto/pseuds/ukenceto
Summary: //You're everything that feels like home to me, yeahUnder your scars, I could live inside you time after timeIf you'd only let me live inside of mine***Set a few years after Gears 3
Relationships: Damon Baird/Marcus Fenix
Series: Love beyond the bones [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1025247
Comments: 10
Kudos: 12





	Under Your Scars

* * *

***

  
The scent of pine still clung to his hands, the roughened skin seemingly as saturated with it as the wood itself.

Baird didn’t mind. If anything, every time it was pine and not gunpowder; soil and not blood, he could feel himself be grateful.

Not overcome, as one would expect – that had worn out the first few years, amidst downpour and rust and more time spent underground than he would’ve liked in a lifetime. In-between the scarcity and the back-breaking work, the long hours, the uncertainty.

Between getting rid of what was left behind after Adam Fenix’s endgame plan.

But finding bunkers and mines and traveling the country like the world’s saddest circus, building the concrete sarcophagus to shroud each burial site, sleeping on the hard ground or in the cramped vehicles was finally over, for now.

And he could be grateful for each day the monsters remained buried.

Their work was far from done, if anything one could say it had just begun. Though this beginning felt different, slower, more profound.

It was cold and fall was just behind the corner, carrying misty mornings and overcast skies. They’d been working for weeks now, digging the foundations.

Dragging the large river stones over, shaping them, setting everything in place.

The wood had been soaking all summer, trunks thicker than his body ready to become something else, something to withstand even the hardest of storms and the darkest nights.

Or, so he hoped.

There was only as much as the two of them could do, even with the last years of experience behind them now.

They could’ve done things differently, but for once Marcus had insisted on this, and Baird had no heart to deny him.

Not when he could see the idea lingering behind his eyes, the unspoken hope they both held too dearly to put in words, lest it breaks in the thorns of the world.

Marcus wanted to build something which would last.

And maybe, they were going to see that come true.

He had been cutting wood all day, shaping the rough logs into support beams for the roof.

Working well into the night, until even the harvest moon had finally set over the horizon, bringing about peaceful dark.

Baird had watched a meteor cross the ink-black skies in a momentary streak. What was the chance that he caught it in the second he had turned his gaze up?

Even he couldn’t calculate that.

Placing another kiss on the back of Marcus’ hand, he pulled it closer until it rested on his cheek, before looking down.

“If the weather keeps, we should have the rest of the logs and the tiles set in a couple of days’ time. Not the worst pace, that’s for sure.”

“Mmmm… We have to do it, it’s already getting too cold for him to be out here.” Marcus turned his face slightly, in the direction of the olive green tent where James slept, from several hours now as Baird had diligently made sure of.

The two of them were still sitting by the fire, after a rather late dinner; Marcus was leaning against his chest, almost completely laying down.

Baird felt how relaxed his body was, the muscles finally at rest after so long spent working. His own body was pliant too, but also aching with days, or more like weeks of hard work, and he was certain Marcus felt equally exhausted.

“Don’t worry, we’ll make it happen.” Huffing, he kissed the top of Marcus’ head, resisting the momentarily temptation of burying his face in the black curls and just staying like that for the rest of the night. “If we really ought to make haste, I can go call Cole and the others – you know they’ll never refuse to help.”

“They’ve got enough on their plate as it is.” Marcus’s voice was low, but Baird knew he didn’t regard his offer with disdain. “New Ephyra’s settlement is getting more and more people, you said it yourself. They have to prepare for winter too.”

“And yet, they’d drop it the moment we say we need them.” Sighing, Baird knew he wasn’t going to get Marcus’ opinion to change. He had wanted this to be something they do alone, relying on their own strength. Their home.

It meant more than the stone and bricks and wood it was made of, and even he could figure out the effort of it all was cathartic for Marcus. So they had begun early, Baird making sure to space out his own trips to the new settlement, even if people there could use an engineer every hour of every day.

He have had to admit that he’d given enough of himself in those initial years, they both had.

He reserved the right to stay with his family now, and do this right.

And setting at one place was long overdue for sure. Not just for the two of them, but for their son as well. JD had taken his first steps and said his first words practically on the road, and even though he’d been surrounded by people who adored him and cared for him, and had nearly always been in his and Marcus’ arms, it was time for him to have a place that can be called home.

They had certainly found parenting to be a… learning experience, but Baird had promised himself to do the best he can. Even if he never had a decent example of a father, he had always thought some things were beyond what had been in the past.

From what he knew, Marcus’ experience had been similar to his in that regard, but his love for James was evident in everything he did.

So now they could indeed have a life neither had seemed to expect, not for most of their lives so far that was. If anything, Baird thought, he had never even believed that one day he could have a real family.

But fate was a funny thing sometimes.

One day it would bring about the death of millions; another, the promise of a time when all gunfire would cease.

They had lived through the end of two wars, and even if he hadn’t fought in both, he’d certainly felt them twist and turn the path beneath his feet, the thin red string of his future.

And somewhere along the way, that he’d never quite managed to pinpoint, the tangles of that string had met another, leading them to where they were now.

Wrapping his arms around Marcus a bit tighter until he held him as close as he could, Baird spoke again, voice just barely audible.

“We’ll complete it on time. With roaring fireplace and all, ‘till there’s no sight of frost.” Having a child in what was practically the remains of an apocalypse had held more dangers than not, but most of all Baird feared disease.

He had been a sickly child, always pale and ready to come down whenever the weather worsened. JD seemed to have taken more of Marcus in that regard, for now at least, but there was not enough medication now, nor many doctors or any proper hospitals in case even a simple cold worsened rapidly.

But no one had ever accused them of being overly-careful, not after so many of the E-day survivors had lost children, one way or another in those seventeen years of war.

“You should check the bottle, best change it before we call it a night.” Marcus seemed to struggle to stay awake, but even so his mind was focused on James.

Baird took off the heavy jacket he had thrown over his own shoulders, before placing it on Marcus’, knowing his back would be cold once he moved away.

"I'll do that, aye."

The tent was close enough to the fire to seep in the warmth, but they were also keeping a hot water bottle in JD’s cot, to make sure he’d sleep undisturbed even as the night went on.

Opening the flap, he carefully took the bottle from underneath the blankets, taking a moment to look at JD’s sleeping face. He was hugging the large sheep plushie Marcus had sewn for him, his blonde hair poking out from under the blanket.

Baird stoked his cheek lightly before making sure the blankets fit snug, then went to refill the bottle with water from the pot that was hanging over the fire.

Marcus had his hands wrapped around a steaming mug, but his gaze was lost in the flames, expression that odd mixture of melancholia and sadness that often made Baird wonder of the thoughts that were running in his head.

A log crumbled into glowing embers, sending sparks up towards the sky.

Marcus’ eyes followed them briefly, before he seemed to realize that he was being watched, turning to Baird who still sat on his haunches, pot in hand.

“What?” Lifting an eyebrow, Marcus gave him a wry smile, lifting the mug to his lips.

“Nothin’. Can’t I look at the love of my life all awestruck once in a while?” Grinning, Baird made a quick work of the water, careful not to burn himself. “But I admit, you’d look even better in my arms again. Preferably in bed, before we fall asleep where we're standing.”

“Wouldn’t be a first time.” Marcus chuckled, burrowing further into Baird’s jacket, perhaps both referring to Baird's ability to be awestruck by him, and maybe recalling one midnight watch or another. Embry knew they’d both had plenty of those, and not always with something necessarily jumping out of the dark throughout it.

“Baby steps. Come on.” Finding Marcus’ hand again, he pulled him towards the tent. “I’d like to fall asleep before dawn for a change too.”

“When you put it that way…” Still, Marcus downed the contents of the mug before setting it down and briefly glancing at the fire again, seemingly content that there was enough wood to keep it burning for a couple more hours at least.

Neither liked it to go out completely, especially with the dew that would dampen everything in the mornings; plus, a few leftover embers always made it easier to start the next one for the day.

Back inside the tent, he placed the bottle under the sheets again, covering it well enough to prevent too much heat from escaping all at once.

JD didn’t stir at all during that, and Baird was glad – sometimes he’d woken them both up before the sky had even lightened fully, with the cheery energy toddlers seemed to have in somehow limitless quantities.

Any words he might’ve been about to say left his mind once he turned however, for the second time in a row tonight finding that Marcus could render him speechless without even realizing, without even trying.

He had been getting ready for bed on the other half of the tent, changing into his sleeping clothes, his back towards Baird.

The light of the fire was still strong enough to seep through the waxed sackcloth, dancing in ghostly patterns over the muscles of Marcus’ back, almost akin to molten gold, half-lost in shadows.

Deep scars crossed over the flesh, like cracks in metal, like the old paths of a river.

Even now, when reality had sunk inside him thoroughly enough to have him know it was no dream, that the war was over; Baird found it was still able to sneak up on him in such serpentine ways.

They would always carry it with them, of that he had no doubt.

When Marcus turned to him this time, Baird reached for his face, his touch reverent; he knew his own hands were rough from the constant work, but that Marcus would never mind.

Lips seeking his, and he knew that maybe, it wasn’t just war that got to live within them. Home did too.

As Marcus fell asleep in his embrace, Baird watched the dance of light over his face, knowing he’d do anything if it meant he got to see him so for the rest of his life.

***

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng7QrYgdItQ


End file.
